In 1989 the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science (CBI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi commenced the installation of a modern state-of-the-art water-level measurement system along the Texas coast. The first measurement systems installed by CBI were intended to provide real-time water-level and meteorological information to the City of Corpus Christi to assist local officials with preparations for incoming hurricanes and tropical storms. From this initial work, other state agencies such as the Texas General Land Office and the Texas Water Development Board began contracting CBI to provide similar information for other areas along the Texas coast. Following a Texas Legislative mandate in 1991, this network of water level gauges became the Texas Coastal Ocean Observation Network (TCOON). As a result, TCOON expanded from an initial three stations in Corpus Christi in 1989 to over forty stations by 1992.